Merging Information Research Articles

A proton exchange membrane fuel cells degradation prediction method based on multi-scale temporal information merging network

Performance degradation prediction is considered as an effective method to improve the service life of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). A hybrid method Multi-scale Temporal Information Merging Network (MTIMN) is then proposed for PEMFC degradation prediction, which is designed to merge information from both macro and micro perspectives in PEMFC historical working data. Firstly, a data preprocessing method based on P-M scores and min-max wavelet denoising is designed to eliminate redundant variables and noise considering the structure of PEMFC and data statistics. Secondly, aiming at the voltage recovery phenomenon during the aging process, a Multi-scale Exponential Decomposition Encoding Module (MEDEM) is presented to extract and encode different time scales of sequences from the PEMFC degradation data. Thirdly, a two-layer Historical Information Integration Module (HIIM) is established, which consists of the trend extraction module and the local extraction module, to extract deep dynamic nonlinear characteristics. Finally, the Merging Prediction Module (MPM) merges information from trend and local modules for the final output. The experimental results show that Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) are 0.0107 and 0.0079, respectively. Therefore, MTIMN can effectively extract deep dynamic nonlinear characteristics in PEMFC degradation data and improve prediction accuracy greatly.

The Blockchain for Healthcare 4.0 Apply in Standard Secure Medical Data Processing Architecture

ABSTRACTCloud‐based Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have seen a substantial increase in usage in recent years, especially for remote patient monitoring. Researchers are interested in investigating the use of Healthcare 4.0 in smart cities. This involves using Internet of Things (IoT) devices and cloud computing to remotely access medical processes. Healthcare 4.0 focuses on the systematic gathering, merging, transmission, sharing, and retention of medical information at regular intervals. Protecting the confidential and private information of patients presents several challenges in terms of thwarting illegal intrusion by hackers. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize the protection of patient medical data that is stored, accessed, and shared on the cloud to avoid unauthorized access or compromise by the authorized components of E‐healthcare systems. A multitude of cryptographic methodologies have been devised to offer safe storage, exchange, and access to medical data in cloud service provider (CSP) environments. Traditional methods have not been effective in providing a harmonious integration of the essential components for EHR security solutions, such as efficient computing, verification on the service side, verification on the user side, independence from a trusted third party, and strong security. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in security solutions that are based on blockchain technology. These solutions are highly effective in safeguarding data storage and exchange while using little computational resources. The researchers focused their efforts exclusively on blockchain technology, namely on Bitcoin. The present emphasis has been on the secure management of healthcare records through the utilization of blockchain technology. This study offers a thorough examination of modern blockchain‐based methods for protecting medical data, regardless of whether cloud computing is utilized or not. This study utilizes and evaluates several strategies that make use of blockchain. The study presents a comprehensive analysis of research gaps, issues, and a future roadmap that contributes to the progress of new Healthcare 4.0 technologies, as demonstrated by research investigations.

Stability of cross-sensory input to primary somatosensory cortex across experience

Merging information across sensory modalities is key to forming robust percepts, yet how the brain achieves this feat remains unclear. Recent studies report cross-modal influences in the primary sensory cortex, suggesting possible multisensory integration in the early stages of cortical processing. We test several hypotheses about the function of auditory influences on mouse primary somatosensory cortex (S1) using invivo two-photon calcium imaging. We found sound-evoked spiking activity in an extremely small fraction of cells, and this sparse activity did not encode auditory stimulus identity. Moreover, S1 did not encode information about specific audio-tactile feature conjunctions. Auditory and audio-tactile stimulus encoding remained unchanged after both passive experience and reinforcement. These results suggest that while primary sensory cortex is plastic within its own modality, the influence of other modalities is remarkably stable and stimulus nonspecific.

BiLSTM-Filt: Neural network for radar word segmentation

Radar word extraction is the analysis foundation for multi-function radars (MFRs) in electronic intelligence (ELINT). Although neural networks enhance performance in radar word extraction, current research still faces challenges from complex electromagnetic environments and unknown radar words. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a promising two-stage radar word extraction framework, consisting of segmentation and recognition. To fill the vacancy of radar word segmentation, we establish the mathematical model from the time series analysis viewpoint and design a novel segmentation neural network based on Bi-direction Long Short-Term Memory with a filter module (BiLSTM-Filt). Specific radar word structure characteristics are extracted by training the network and applied for detecting radar words in the pulse train. To further improve segmentation performance, a bounding box regression method is designed to merge information from sub-region structures. Simulation experiments on a typical MFR, Mercury, reveal that the proposed method can outperform the baseline methods within complex electromagnetic environments, containing corrupted environments, various pulse backgrounds, and variable pulse train lengths. Due to the artificial design structure, the proposed method can also make a trial on unknown radar word segmentation.

Narrow road extraction from high-resolution remote sensing images: SWGE-Net and MSIF-Net

ABSTRACT Accurate and complete road network extraction plays a critical role in urban planning, street navigation, and emergency response. At present, narrow roads are a main feature in most public road datasets. However, the continuity and boundary completeness of the extraction results for these narrow roads are relatively poor, due to their varied shapes, uneven spatial distribution, and the presence of various interfering elements. To address these issues, this study introduces a novel network, the Self-weighted Global Context Road Extraction Network (SWGE-Net), which integrates a dilate block and an improved coordinate attention mechanism to effectively capture the complex details and spatial information of narrow roads. Furthermore, most public road training datasets often lack labels for very narrow roads, this omission leads to poor extraction results for these roads in test datasets. In order to further improve the extraction capability for unlabeled, extremely narrow roads, this study introduces another network called the Multi-scale Information Fusion Road Extraction Network (MSIF-Net), which uses the same encoders as SWGE-Net and has a special module for merging information at different scales. This module, with a dilate block and pyramid pooling-based decoder, makes the network better at recognizing and combining features of different sizes. Experimental results indicate that SWGE-Net outperforms the baseline network with road IoU scores of 71.57% and 60.67% on the DeepGlobe and CHN6-CUG road datasets, respectively an improvement of 18.51% and 5.40%. Meanwhile, MSIF-Net not only exceeds the baseline in road IoU scores for both datasets, but also achieves the best performance in extracting unlabeled, extremely narrow roads in qualitative experiments.

SEEG4D: a tool for 4D visualization of stereoelectroencephalography data.

Epilepsy is a prevalent and serious neurological condition which impacts millions of people worldwide. Stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) is used in cases of drug resistant epilepsy to aid in surgical resection planning due to its high spatial resolution and ability to visualize seizure onset zones. For accurate localization of the seizure focus, sEEG studies combine pre-implantation magnetic resonance imaging, post-implant computed tomography to visualize electrodes, and temporally recorded sEEG electrophysiological data. Many tools exist to assist in merging multimodal spatial information; however, few allow for an integrated spatiotemporal view of the electrical activity. In the current work, we present SEEG4D, an automated tool to merge spatial and temporal data into a complete, four-dimensional virtual reality (VR) object with temporal electrophysiology that enables the simultaneous viewing of anatomy and seizure activity for seizure localization and presurgical planning. We developed an automated, containerized pipeline to segment tissues and electrode contacts. Contacts are aligned with electrical activity and then animated based on relative power. SEEG4D generates models which can be loaded into VR platforms for viewing and planning with the surgical team. Automated contact segmentation locations are within 1 mm of trained raters and models generated show signal propagation along electrodes. Critically, spatial-temporal information communicated through our models in a VR space have potential to enhance sEEG pre-surgical planning.

Computer Aided Intracranial Aneurysm Treatment Based on 2D/3D Mapping, Virtual Deployment and Online Distal Marker Detection.

To introduce a computational tool for peri-interventional intracranial aneurysm treatment guidance that maps preoperative planning information from simulation onto real-time X-Ray imaging. Preoperatively, multiple flow diverter (FD) devices are simulated based on the 3D mesh of the vessel to treat, to choose the optimal size and location. In the peri-operative stage, this 3D information is aligned and mapped to the continuous 2D-X-Ray scan feed from the operating room. The current flow diverter position in the 3D model is estimated by automatically detecting the distal FD marker locations and mapping them to the treated vessel. This allows to visually assess the possible outcome of releasing the device at the current position, and compare it with the one chosen pre-operatively. The full pipeline was validated using retrospectively collected biplane images from four different patients (5 3D-DSA datasets in total). The distal FD marker detector obtained an average F1-score of 0.67 ( ) in 412 2D-X-Ray scans. After aligning 3D-DSA + 2D-X-Ray datasets, the average difference between simulated and deployed positions was 0.832 mm ( mm). Finally, we qualitatively show that the proposed approach is able to display the current location of the FD compared to their pre-operatively planned position. The proposed method allows to support the FD deployment procedure by merging and presenting preoperative simulation information to the interventionists, aiding them to make more accurate and less risky decisions.

Stability of cross-sensory input to primary somatosensory cortex across experience.

Merging information from across sensory modalities is key to forming robust, disambiguated percepts of the world, yet how the brain achieves this feat remains unclear. Recent observations of cross-modal influences in primary sensory cortical areas have suggested that multisensory integration may occur in the earliest stages of cortical processing, but the role of these responses is still poorly understood. We address these questions by testing several hypotheses about the possible functions served by auditory influences on the barrel field of mouse primary somatosensory cortex (S1) using in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging. We observed sound-evoked spiking activity in a small fraction of cells overall, and moreover that this sparse activity was insufficient to encode auditory stimulus identity; few cells responded preferentially to one sound or another, and a linear classifier trained to decode auditory stimuli from population activity performed barely above chance. Moreover S1 did not encode information about specific audio-tactile feature conjunctions that we tested. Our ability to decode auditory audio-tactile stimuli from neural activity remained unchanged after both passive experience and reinforcement. Collectively, these results suggest that while a primary sensory cortex is highly plastic with regard to its own modality, the influence of other modalities are remarkably stable and play a largely stimulus-non-specific role.

Artificial Intelligence in Detection, Management, and Prognosis of Bone Metastasis: A Systematic Review.

Metastasis commonly occur in the bone tissue. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly prevalent in the medical sector as support in decision-making, diagnosis, and treatment processes. The objective of this systematic review was to assess the reliability of AI systems in clinical, radiological, and pathological aspects of bone metastases. We included studies that evaluated the use of AI applications in patients affected by bone metastases. Two reviewers performed a digital search on 31 December 2023 on PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane library and extracted authors, AI method, interest area, main modalities used, and main objectives from the included studies. We included 59 studies that analyzed the contribution of computational intelligence in diagnosing or forecasting outcomes in patients with bone metastasis. Six studies were specific for spine metastasis. The study involved nuclear medicine (44.1%), clinical research (28.8%), radiology (20.4%), or molecular biology (6.8%). When a primary tumor was reported, prostate cancer was the most common, followed by lung, breast, and kidney. Appropriately trained AI models may be very useful in merging information to achieve an overall improved diagnostic accuracy and treatment for metastasis in the bone. Nevertheless, there are still concerns with the use of AI systems in medical settings. Ethical considerations and legal issues must be addressed to facilitate the safe and regulated adoption of AI technologies. The limitations of the study comprise a stronger emphasis on early detection rather than tumor management and prognosis as well as a high heterogeneity for type of tumor, AI technology and radiological techniques, pathology, or laboratory samples involved.

Scanorama: integrating large and diverse single-cell transcriptomic datasets.

Merging diverse single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from numerous experiments, laboratories and technologies can uncover important biological insights. Nonetheless, integrating scRNA-seq data encounters special challenges when the datasets are composed of diverse cell type compositions. Scanorama offers a robust solution for improving the quality and interpretation of heterogeneous scRNA-seq data by effectively merging information from diverse sources. Scanorama is designed to address the technical variation introduced by differences in sample preparation, sequencing depth and experimental batches that can confound the analysis of multiple scRNA-seq datasets. Here we provide a detailed protocol for using Scanorama within a Scanpy-based single-cell analysis workflow coupled with Google Colaboratory, a cloud-based free Jupyter notebook environment service. The protocol involves Scanorama integration, a process that typically spans 0.5-3 h. Scanorama integration requires a basic understanding of cellular biology, transcriptomic technologies and bioinformatics. Our protocol and new Scanorama-Colaboratory resource should make scRNA-seq integration more widely accessible to researchers.

The Role of GPT and Data Fusion in improving Disaster Prediction

The application of data fusion for disaster prediction using GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is covered in this study. Data fusion is the process of merging information from several sources including social media, sensor data, and simulation data, in order to increase the precision of catastrophe prediction models. Through the utilization of GPT, an artificial intelligence language model, data fusion enables a thorough examination and amalgamation of data from disparate fields, hence producing more resilient forecasts. GPT models may be used to recognize geographical descriptions from social media postings and identify cell kinds using information about marker genes. Proactive communication with impacted people in times of catastrophe is made possible by the integration of GPT with social media monitoring. GPT models may significantly enhance disaster preparedness, response, prediction, and recovery by gathering pertinent data from many sources and modelling various situations.

Lightweight convolutional neural networks with context broadcast transformer for real-time semantic segmentation

With the increasing application of embedded mobile devices in various fields, lightweight real-time semantic segmentation systems have attracted more and more attention. Many current methods have successfully reduced the model's parameters, but they have led to low model accuracy, diminishing their practical value. In recent years, the Transformer architecture has achieved good results in many tasks, effectively capturing long-range dependencies and enhancing accuracy. However, the Transformer is not adept at extracting local features, and the model's computational cost is generally too high, hindering real-time inference implementation. We propose a lightweight semantic segmentation network called LCBFormer-Net, which embeds Transformer units between asymmetric encoders and decoders to fully leverage their advantages. On the encoder side, we design the Lightweight Multi-Fusion Unit (LMFU) and Partition Grouping Shuffle Channel Attention (PGSCA). The former fully utilizes input features, merging information multiple times through multiple branches and employing depthwise convolutions with dilation rate to further obtain sufficient features. The latter includes a lightweight grouped channel attention, better guide feature extraction. The Lightweight Context Broadcast Transformer (LCB Transformer) is the Transformer unit we designed, with a lightweight structure that significantly reduces GPU memory consumption. It also improves self-attention and feed-forward networks, enhancing the model's robustness. The decoder includes the Multi-scale Semantic Information Attention Fusion (MSIAF) module, guiding the fusion of features at three different scales and employing a hybrid attention mechanism with both channel and spatial attention to guide feature extraction. LCBFormer-Net achieves good segmentation results with a parameter count of 0.88 M on multiple challenging datasets with diverse scenes.

Multimodal ChatGPT: Extending ChatGPT to enable rich multimodal conversations using deep neural network

Multimodal conversational AI systems have gained significant attention due to their potential to enhance user experience and enable more interactive and engaging interactions. This vital and complex research field seeks to integrate diverse modalities, including text, images, and speech, to develop conversational AI systems capable of comprehending, perceiving, and generating responses within a multimodal framework. By seamlessly incorporating various modalities, these systems can provide a more comprehensive and immersive conversational experience, enabling users to communicate in a more natural and intuitively. This research presents a novel multimodal architecture empowered by Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) for simultaneous integration and processing of diverse modalities. Multimodal data encompasses various sources like text, images, audio, video, or sensor data. The objective is to merge and harness information from these modalities to amplify learning and enhance performance across a spectrum of tasks. This research explores the extension of ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art conversational AI model, to handle multimodal inputs, including text and images or text and speech. We present a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and challenges of integrating various options into ChatGPT, examining their impact on understanding, interaction, and overall system performance. Through extensive experimentation and evaluation, we demonstrate the potential of multimodal ChatGPT to provide richer, more context-aware conversations, while also highlighting the existing limitations and open research questions in this evolving field. Multimodal ChatGPT outperform the current GPT-3.5 by 16.51% and it is clear that multimodal ChatGPTis capable of better performance and offer a pathway for further progress in the field of language models.

UM‐GAN: Underground mine GAN for underground mine low‐light image enhancement

AbstractIn recent years, low‐light image enhancement has become increasingly active. However, in underground mine environments, acquiring high‐quality images is still challenging due to low light, low contrast, and occlusion. To address this problem, this study proposes a low‐light image enhancement method for underground mine based on generative adversarial networks (UM‐GAN), which aims to take full advantage of the ability of GAN to achieve the restoration of details, the reduction of noise, and the improvement of overall image quality. The model proposed in this paper is divided into three main parts. Initially, a generator network adopting an encoder–decoder structure is developed. Subsequently, a novel strategy is introduced to merge information by utilizing inverted greyscale images and low‐light images as inputs. Further image quality enhancement is achieved by incorporating a noise reduction module employing the diffusion model. To ascertain the efficacy of the UM‐GAN method, evaluations are conducted on diverse real‐world and synthetic datasets, juxtaposing the approach against superior methods. Through qualitative and quantitative comparative experiments, the method showcases noteworthy advancements through qualitative and quantitative comparative experiments, substantiating its effectiveness. This research provides new ideas and methods for overcoming image quality problems in underground mine environments and contributes to the development of underground mine image processing.

Enhancing endoscopic measurement: validating a quantitative method for polyp size and location estimation in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy

BackgroundAccurate measurement of polyps size is crucial in predicting malignancy, planning relevant intervention strategies and surveillance schedules. Endoscopists’ visual estimations can lack precision. This study builds on our prior research, with the aim to evaluate a recently developed quantitative method to measure the polyp size and location accurately during a simulated endoscopy session.MethodsThe quantitative method merges information about endoscopic positions obtained from an electromagnetic tracking sensor, with corresponding points on the images of the segmented polyp border. This yields real-scale 3D coordinates of the border of the polyp. By utilising the sensor, positions of any anatomical landmarks are attainable, enabling the estimation of a polyp’s location relative to them. To verify the method’s reliability and accuracy, simulated endoscopies were conducted in pig stomachs, where polyps were artificially created and assessed in a test–retest manner. The polyp measurements were subsequently compared against clipper measurements.ResultsThe average size of the fifteen polyps evaluated was approximately 12 ± 4.3 mm, ranging from 5 to 20 mm. The test–retest reliability, measured by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for polyp size estimation, demonstrated an absolute agreement of 0.991 (95% CI 0.973–0.997, p < 0.05). Bland & Altman analysis revealed a mean estimation difference of − 0.17 mm (− 2.03%) for polyp size and, a mean difference of − 0.4 mm (− 0.21%) for polyp location. Both differences were statistically non-significant (p > 0.05). When comparing the proposed method with calliper measurements, the Bland & Altman plots showed 95% of size estimation differences between − 1.4 and 1.8 mm (− 13 to 17.4%) which was not significant (p > 0.05).ConclusionsThe proposed method of measurements of polyp size and location was found to be highly accurate, offering great potential for clinical implementation to improve polyp assessment. This level of performance represents a notable improvement over visual estimation technique used in clinical practice.

Bayesian framework for multi-source data integration-Application to human extrapolation from preclinical studies.

In preclinical investigations, for example, in in vitro, in vivo, and in silico studies, the pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and toxicological characteristics of a drug are evaluated before advancing to first-in-man trial. Usually, each study is analyzed independently and the human dose range does not leverage the knowledge gained from all studies. Taking into account all preclinical data through inferential procedures can be particularly interesting in obtaining a more precise and reliable starting dose and dose range. Our objective is to propose a Bayesian framework for multi-source data integration, customizable, and tailored to the specific research question. We focused on preclinical results extrapolated to humans, which allowed us to predict the quantities of interest (e.g. maximum tolerated dose, etc.) in humans. We build an approach, divided into four steps, based on a sequential parameter estimation for each study, extrapolation to human, commensurability checking between posterior distributions and final information merging to increase the precision of estimation. The new framework is evaluated via an extensive simulation study, based on a real-life example in oncology. Our approach allows us to better use all the information compared to a standard framework, reducing uncertainty in the predictions and potentially leading to a more efficient dose selection.

Digitalizing Tourism and Interactive Navigation: A Case Study of Pakistan

The emergence of technology-driven tourism is transforming Pakistan's economic landscape, prompting a detailed examination to improve tourist experiences and streamline tour planning. This study introduces a customized application framework and User Interface (UI) design to assist tourists in effortlessly locating accommodations, dining options, attractions, and leisure spots while exploring Pakistan's diverse demographic appeal. Through a structured questionnaire merging Information Technology (IT) and Pakistan's tourism industry, primary data is meticulously analyzed, revealing the pivotal role of digitization and innovation in enhancing ongoing tourism events. Descriptive and correlational analyses highlight the widespread preference among tourists for using mobile applications and social media platforms for vacation planning, with a notable 62.4% of male respondents among 398 participants. Using insights utilizing from the survey, interactive maps provide comprehensive information on tourist locales, historical contexts, imagery, and transit routes, thereby enriching navigation experiences. This research's significance lies in its potential to revolutionize Pakistan's tourism sector through digitization and interactive navigation, enabling the country to leverage its rich cultural heritage and diverse attractions to attract a broader range of visitors. Through the development of user-friendly applications and initiatives, Pakistan can enhance its economic outlook and promote sustainable tourism practices, ensuring long-term viability and inclusivity within the industry.

Fast VGG: An Advanced Pre-Trained Deep Learning Framework for Multi-Layered Composite NDE via Multifrequency Near-Field Microwave Imaging

ABSTRACT Microwave nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques show promise for composite inspection due to microwave signals’ ability to penetrate and interact with internal structures. However, current microwave imaging approaches have poor spatial resolution, struggling to distinguish defects from defect-free regions. This limits reliable subsurface analysis and widespread adoption. This paper introduces a novel multi-frequency microwave imaging fusion method using an open-ended waveguide and deep learning to enhance defect detection accuracy in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. The proposed technique employs an optimized feature extraction strategy to improve differentiation between defective and sound areas for superior subsurface visualization. The method leverages VGG-19 for efficient feature extraction and parallel processing to merge information from multi-frequency images. Our method significantly improved detection accuracy and F1 score, surpassing non-deep learning image fusion techniques by at least 50%. The optimized fusion strategy enables clear visualization of various defect types across multiple subsurface layers. Our approach also reduces computation time versus standard VGG implementation by 3–4×, showing scalability. The results demonstrate the proposed method’s potential to overcome existing constraints and provide rapid, accurate subsurface analysis of complex CFRP structures through an optimized deep learning framework, holding significance for expanding microwave NDE applications.

Enhanced YOLOv5s-Based Algorithm for Industrial Part Detection.

In complex industrial environments, accurate recognition and localization of industrial targets are crucial. This study aims to improve the precision and accuracy of object detection in industrial scenarios by effectively fusing feature information at different scales and levels, and introducing edge detection head algorithms and attention mechanisms. We propose an improved YOLOv5-based algorithm for industrial object detection. Our improved algorithm incorporates the Crossing Bidirectional Feature Pyramid (CBiFPN), effectively addressing the information loss issue in multi-scale and multi-level feature fusion. Therefore, our method can enhance detection performance for objects of varying sizes. Concurrently, we have integrated the attention mechanism (C3_CA) into YOLOv5s to augment feature expression capabilities. Furthermore, we introduce the Edge Detection Head (EDH) method, which is adept at tackling detection challenges in scenes with occluded objects and cluttered backgrounds by merging edge information and amplifying it within the features. Experiments conducted on the modified ITODD dataset demonstrate that the original YOLOv5s algorithm achieves 82.11% and 60.98% on mAP@0.5 and mAP@0.5:0.95, respectively, with its precision and recall being 86.8% and 74.75%, respectively. The performance of the modified YOLOv5s algorithm on mAP@0.5 and mAP@0.5:0.95 has been improved by 1.23% and 1.44%, respectively, and the precision and recall have been enhanced by 3.68% and 1.06%, respectively. The results show that our method significantly boosts the accuracy and robustness of industrial target recognition and localization.

A generalized form of the distance-induced OWA operators – Demonstrating its use for evaluation indicator system in China

Using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique to rank alternatives is a well-known area of study in which aggregation operators, such as ordered weighted averaging (OWA) and induced OWA (IOWA) operators, play an important role in merging information and producing an overall ranking. The distance measures from ideal argument values in aggregation operators have gained attention in recent literature. Distance measures are traditionally used as argument variables, which leads to the depiction that the attribute cannot be aggregated directly. In this paper, a generalized form of distance-induced OWA (DIOWA) operators is proposed with distance measures used as order-inducing variables. A distinctive benefit of DIOWA operators is that they permit us to consider ideal argument values while simultaneously also taking the attribute values as argument variables. Three variants of DIOWA operators are proposed and investigated, namely a) the Hamming distance-induced OWA (HDIOWA) operator, b) the normalized Hamming distance-induced OWA (NHDIOWA) operator, and c) the weighted Hamming distance-induced OWA (WHDIOWA) operator. We highlight their important properties and provide proofs to necessary theorems, and also suggest the determination methods for calculating their associated weights. We discuss further extensions of the proposed DIOWA operators with the help of generalized and quasi-arithmetic means. We discuss the use of our proposed family of operators for two different decision making situations, and demonstrate their validity by an illustrative numerical example. Finally, we apply the proposed operators to a real-life problem of ranking Chinese provinces for their science and technology (S&T) development levels. The proposed operators are shown to be a useful addition to the aggregation toolbox for decision analysts.